9. Membership

Member List

For transparency purposes, we are disclosing each Guild member’s team, the name/identifier, and a link to their work. This set will evolve over time as members leave core development or change teams.

	Team	Member + Link to work
1	EF DevOps	Parithosh Jayanthi
2	EF DevOps	Rafael Matias
3	EF Geth	Guillaume Ballet
4	EF Geth	Jared Wasinger
5	EF Geth	Marius Van der wijden
6	EF Geth	Peter Szilagyi
7	EF Ipsilon	Andrei Maiboroda
8	EF Ipsilon	Jose Hugo de la cruz Romero
9	EF Ipsilon	Paweł Bylica
10	EF JavaScript	Andrew Day
11	EF JavaScript	Ryan Ghods
12	EF JavaScript	Scotty Poi
13	EF Portal	Jason Carver
14	EF Portal	Mike Ferris
15	EF Portal	Ognyan Genev
16	EF Portal	Piper Merriam
17	EF Protocol Support	Danny Ryan
18	EF Protocol Support	Tim Beiko
19	EF Protocol Support	Trenton Van Epps
20	EF Research	Aditya Asgaonkar
21	EF Research	Alex Stokes
22	EF Research	Antonio Sanso
23	EF Research	Carl Beekhuizen
24	EF Research	Dankrad Feist
25	EF Research	David Theodore
26	EF Research	Dmitry Khovratovich
27	EF Research	Francesco d’Amato
28	EF Research	George Kadianakis
29	EF Research	Hsiao Wei Wang
30	EF Research	Justin Drake
31	EF Research	Mark Simkin
32	EF Research	Proto
33	EF Research	Zhenfei Zhang
34	EF Robust Incentives Group (RIG)	Barnabé Monnot
35	EF Robust Incentives Group (RIG)	Caspar Schwarz-Schilling
36	EF Security	Fredrik Svantes
37	EF Security	Tyler Holmes
38	EF Security	Yoav Weiss
39	EF Testing	Mario Vega
40	Erigon	Andrey Ashikhmin
41	Erigon	Artem Vorotnikov
42	Erigon	Enrique Avila Asapche
43	Erigon	Giulio rebuffo
44	Erigon	Michelangelo Riccobene
45	Erigon	Tullio Canepa
46	Ethereum Cat Herders	Pooja Ranjan
47	Hyperledger Besu	Daniel Lehrner
48	Hyperledger Besu	Danno Ferrin
49	Hyperledger Besu	Gary Schulte
50	Hyperledger Besu	Jiri Peinlich
51	Hyperledger Besu	Justin Florentine
52	Hyperledger Besu	Karim Taam
53	Independent	Peter Davies
54	Lighthouse	Adrian Manning
55	Lighthouse	Diva Martínez
56	Lighthouse	Mac Ladson
57	Lighthouse	Mark Mackey
58	Lighthouse	Mehdi Zerouali
59	Lighthouse	Michael Sproul
60	Lighthouse	Paul Hauner
61	Lighthouse	Pawan Dhananjay Ravi
62	Lighthouse	Sean Anderson
63	Lodestar	Cayman Nava
64	Lodestar	dapplion
65	Lodestar	Gajinder Singh
66	Lodestar	Phil Ngo
67	Lodestar	Tuyen Nguyen
68	Nethermind	Daniel Caleda
69	Nethermind	Kristof Gazso
70	Nethermind	Łukasz Rozmej
71	Nethermind	Marcin Sobczak
72	Nethermind	Marek Moraczyński
73	Nethermind	Mateusz Jędrzejewski
74	Nethermind	Sarah Liu
75	Nethermind	Tomasz Stanzeck
76	0xSplits	donations.0xSplits.eth
77	Prysmatic	James He
78	Prysmatic	Kasey Kirkham
79	Prysmatic	Nishant Das
80	Prysmatic	potuz
81	Prysmatic	Preston Van Loon
82	Prysmatic	Radosław Kapka
83	Prysmatic	Raul Jordan
84	Prysmatic	Terence Tsao
85	Quilt	Ansgar Dietrichs
86	Quilt	Matt Garnett
87	Quilt	Sam Wilson
88	Quilt	Somu Bhargava
89	Solidity	Alex Beregszaszi
90	Solidity	Harikrishnan Mulackal
91	Solidity	Johnson Ugwuru
92	Solidity	Kaan Uzdogan
93	Solidity	Kamil Sliwak
94	Solidity	Leonardo de Sa Alt
95	Status	Dustin Brody
96	Status	Etan Kissling
97	Status	Eugene Kabanov
98	Status	Jacek Sieka
99	Status	Jamie Lokier
100	Status	Kim De Mey
101	Status	Konrad Staniec
102	Status	Mamy Ratsimbazafy
103	Status	Ștefan Talpalaru
104	Status	Zahary Karadzhov
105	Teku	Adrian Sutton
106	Teku	Ben Edgington
107	Teku	Enrico Del Fante
108	Teku	Paul Harris
109	TXRX	Alex Vlasov
110	TXRX	Anton Nashatyrev
111	TXRX	Mikhail Kalinin

Addresses and Weights

For member privacy, the order of weights here does not correspond to the names above. These addresses and weights will change over time as members change from fulltime to part-time (or vice-versa), or as new members start contributing to core development.

Read more about how weighting is determinded in 6.3 Weighting

	Address	Weight as a percent
1	0xe8FEE6186cbcF0790644D59f04cC5C085FBA68Bb	0.3347
2	0xC9187b5C81d63b289811A4fcb9AC7ADb7103639e	0.3578
3	0x6bb11EBDF00ebDFbe707005B506A24Fd57d5Bd66	0.3578
4	0xF23090AB5773200bE3dAD33f42C7Eb20a14C4a61	0.3795
5	0xab8b3647EF7FF66D2f38ee5eaEf2b158c4eb52A2	0.4
6	0x2D56Cd519540bE541A3261E22e95d6507F5504Ca	0.4
7	0xfbbECa029104953F039537a111D07A6aC0549c3c	0.4382
8	0x9b796F2de75772f1634D78A3AB23A03778D3702a	0.4382
9	0x5869C17c8934Ce9f674e88c7d4f8F94DCE193FCB	0.4733
10	0x8360470F1793C91c953be453fcA52CC63dfCb367	0.4733
11	0x4Bfa4639Cc1f4554122aBB930Aa897CDAe90d13b	0.4733
12	0x046Fb65722E7b2455012BFEBf6177F1D2e9738D9	0.4733
13	0xEd46bFFd4b8237a9c7E08f55F0B410544f989813	0.506
14	0x22D6637330aF1de97a1F67D03A73b99A1E6D2263	0.506
15	0x8ce466bD577396786C76Da8629314fcce5bE2A5f	0.506
16	0xEB8E7c90014565EEd8126110630eFa2d9CD6eBE4	0.506
17	0x975D1040E93316917BD67dD32a02e1929F8aF8D3	0.506
18	0x3d5D2AC4fEcF16bb1651A445d5B17f977A823546	0.506
19	0x0906Eb682C6d12EdBE5e0A43E60068E1A7F8bea3	0.5367
20	0xc66EFCcB88b3b7BdE6fC476d8cF139DD38075Ad7	0.5367
21	0x00cDD7Fc085c86D000c0D54b3CA6fE83A8a806e5	0.5367
22	0xFBFd6Fa9F73Ac6A058E01259034C28001BEf8247	0.5367
23	0xe2A296b3d3AD4212b6030442e70419ff7B82FEE4	0.5367
24	0x2A89178555a3e7d19218f28DF0B0Ec732E889e18	0.5657
25	0x661b81d462D80786c442774F452464A8C627a20E	0.5657
26	0x2fb858991668840ce34F331402E0b3C66db078AF	0.5657
27	0xf0869c68b91013bf214db68d503c65f9ba44097c	0.5657
28	0x980a85ba6c2683e3509752dd3b4eB50165C0e65F	0.5657
29	0x78ac9c2545850bEDbC076EB30ce7A6f0D74b395E	0.5657
30	0xB7745Bde70e429bBd5Eb57dfa5ca70B84239477a	0.5657
31	0xeFD79Dc8c08762156a2B204743e3fC9507f07f4E	0.5934
32	0x153afFb96Fcb60085Ee307996Bdd2df0183A3682	0.5934
33	0x50122A5509F628e901F9c0238F0168833753239b	0.6197
34	0x10c8597a5063A1648FfE13f54E996ba9bB3217B5	0.6197
35	0x0760E844e6f368ce73F1eEB917d37Db19375De3B	0.6197
36	0xf0443945aD3BE9645382FC2537317dA97FEfF3A9	0.6197
37	0x77b34f5E620e8Cfd1839b245beAADd27ae3A25FB	0.6325
38	0x0B916095200313900104bAcfc288462682C38700	0.645
39	0x84f678A3e7BA8Fc817c32Ff10884D6FB20976114	0.645
40	0x2bf7b04F143602692bBDc3EcbeA68C2c65278eee	0.6694
41	0x6f91b7e11d955897aa7394d5b4fc82559fab27b9	0.6694
42	0xCb8DC3beC7B659022aE0d3E9de17322F31e4AA7C	0.6929
43	0x4d5083dd10f2a46f26f5583c6679f9f8d30ae850	0.6929
44	0xE35b6f8E759Ac242585E2F41Ac29A2baAf4c4e96	0.7156
45	0xC152fd31F285f6c0B3807070280595e7Ea713a7f	0.7376
46	0xbC349D1BEeE33c61F0395d1667E70056B4C869B9	0.759
47	0x644177F8D79117c2b9C7596527642B3c2D05888E	0.7798
48	0xb721c2e6640D963e99b37B6437ABAF6914A25A5e	0.7798
49	0xF8843981e7846945960f53243cA2Fd42a579f719	0.8013
50	0xa1D76553266fA8Ed3D143794a462aaFAdfC34f74	0.8198
51	0x925F5d6cCdB04F56fBa1cdcAd92E4eBb0d421411	0.8391
52	0x49Aa00072a7BA8a5639C43Fe9F6536820E6F5d57	0.8391
53	0xC6cA7c3427AD6B7a06fbED6D18C394E540E31814	0.8764
54	0x46cD90445349e64F895c403c23839e79eb4065e4	0.8945
55	0xFf9977FB117a22254a8eB6c6CE8d3Dd671FA70DC	0.9122
56	0x65a63ceE206bFA6B2a3287479D28c8902B4055E9	0.9122
57	0x88dF07c605d13915B8E7D07dc8efD538dC0C5620	0.9296
58	0xE4b99f9580B90d88C3e6dC3E0B853D8D3b0B8B55	0.9296
59	0x9d6d3b09F8AC8615805bd82e53B80D956F451CFa	0.9296
60	0x92699d64C65c435D4a60E2ceEaEb931dB8B1cA09	0.9467
61	0x35bc6a44AcFb79b5A47C1cbe2fD3C560a093a2B1	0.9467
62	0xa29576F07eAaD050AeACbc89AC0518B62fe2F88E	0.9634
63	0xe05875F287C028901798aC2Dc8C22Ba908b8eF36	0.9634
64	0x00d3baf1080b1cfb5897225a21ecdcc25a1f4456	0.9961
65	0x799681f9b9d7c55ed59f5a0f235cAb132Cde0a2B	0.9961
66	0xb7A593EC62dc447eef23ea0e0B4d5144ac75ABC5	0.9961
67	0x1ecaea79D739BC222D6dB2d6bf63F869a329a702	1.0277
68	0xD4a3030b5f5e8DD4860d370C17E8576aE9951a2D	1.0277
69	0x10ab73AA48D686b7FD9ec9D50418a14DD23f6631	1.0277
70	0x6e22a5e30088c8389dc725bbead5f0675334299f	1.0432
71	0x71c15691e243bE88220957C784053EF0E084440B	1.0584
72	0x24113fFB07189D1e6E169025A424B58C29522972	1.0882
73	0x6B29132ea388a308578c1d3Be068D0e4fc9915a2	1.1028
74	0x50d5e44700c10873875b4E75C4c9396562D83bE1	1.1028
75	0x873a45B49289b868E81547c6226357E7117e6070	1.1173
76	0xd20BebA9eFA30fB34aF93AF5c91C9a4d6854eAC4	1.1173
77	0x4B3105E9EC2B6069c1362388D429625a026f43e0	1.1173
78	0x366A06CbA45BC45996A7B6a1B6F22e8c9283b6Ea	1.1455
79	0x05618d6EFFe2E522F07B1dB692d47A68bfD6fFEa	1.1732
80	0xa87922d0074bCd82Ac82816633CcE68472548955	1.1732
81	0x86F34D8b98171281AB8bFe65C7e2718E4f002e35	1.1867
82	0xf5441a1b900a1D93e4c06CB9c3fDbA39F01469f0	1.2001
83	0x7e59Df833869E2997d05e163D6004f3344A052FA	1.2001
84	0x0000006916a87b82333f4245046623b23794c65c	1.2001
85	0xAb96014a7c078f09418Cf899Bf197CadFf023C16	1.2265
86	0x1de6938d9f9ebd43D0Cc56f0CeF1657D954c9A94	1.2265
87	0xCA186e78bf657d4C5694CA5CA448D3766d2b55Bb	1.2523
88	0x00a2d2d22f456125d64beda5a6f37273a13d9de0	1.2523
89	0x57c5D54F7293CDE1FC129e4159cB07F48752ea61	1.2776
90	0x3212974a4e53e5238f6ea193b36412db9ad61c26	1.2776
91	0x6fFd2248Ab7E80ef51D7Eb4CB60964C830125567	1.2776
92	0x3eD7bf997b7A91e9e8aB9eE2F7ce983bd37D6392	1.2901
93	0x5973D1af5c13168bdC85c6e78309272815995Ffb	1.2901
94	0x376D5C3a16E9d015e8C584bB2d278E25F0ccb27B	1.2901
95	0xf71E9C766Cdf169eDFbE2749490943C1DC6b8A55	1.2901
96	0x9F60E4aF6020cc6a791B2d1Ce9902d25A72bA824	1.2901
97	0x6C1C4f642ab5611A46ee6F3ED95Bbf2E3Caf4D1c	1.3024
98	0x3B16821A5dBBFF86E4a88eA0621EC6be016cd79A	1.3147
99	0xF51fc4c6Ab075482b61F5C1d4E72fADaFf8815F3	1.3147
100	0xBc11295936Aa79d594139de1B2e12629414F3BDB	1.3268
101	0xe019836A41CB707F79b991f60e241918097aC16e	1.3388
102	0x8cbf722adfbc071a12aae158a12a68397578017c	1.3388
103	0x299cB850bD75C07ef89978Bdc52e062Cc4fA0250	1.3507
104	0xBFbeaB0896E29d0Db26ad60278d3Ab3C482BB199	1.3507
105	0xdF6C53Df56f3992FC44195518A2d8B16306Af9ff	1.3742
106	0xbB3F2F946E8eE2912830e365cF241293636cb057	1.3742
107	0x497f0D190C513f51eAC234628200a5E62271a7A5	1.4424
108	0xE9F19B6C72219f9B12C9c367405a90Ac9aFb2241	1.5699
109	0x974B9cb3c122561e3bf6234651E0b82B88Fb9015	1.6397
110	0x9Bee5b17Eb847744b6a81Ee935409739F91c722c	1.6783
111	0x6591e7D655f248f6930195385C36b8D5Af679B8B	1.6783

Quotes

We’ve asked members to share why they think the Protocol Guild is important for Ethereum: here are a few of their responses:

Adrian Manning (Lighthouse) - “Lighthouse is the Rust implementation of Ethereum Beacon Chain, a key component in Ethereum’s transition to PoS Although Lighthouse is one of a few major production Eth2 clients, it’s imperative that more than 1 production client is used in the space to avoid the chain collapsing if bugs/vulnerabilities are found in a single client. Protocol Guild supports the teams working on minority clients, which is an important initiative.”

Alex Stokes (EF Research) - “The Protocol Guild is an experiment in public goods funding that aims to align the incentives of core protocol contributors with the continued stewardship of the ecosystem by allowing these contributors to share in the value created by their hard work. This mechanism is important for the future of Ethereum as it ensures continuity of protocol direction, maintenance, and growth amongst a set of dedicated individuals who deeply care about realizing the collective vision that inspires everyone who interacts with our community.”

Alex Vlasov (TXRX) - “Ethereum - and blockchains, in general - unveils tremendous opportunities and one of them is building a more fair world. Protocol Guild serves several purposes: 1. It’s an instrument for public goods funding, which is often underrated 2. It’s a research and an exploration of innovative social mechanisms 3. It aims to support Ethereum Protocol contributors”

Ansgar Dietrichs (Quilt) - “I strongly believe that not enshrining a contributor funding mechanism into the base chain was the correct choice for Ethereum (crucial for its credible neutrality). But in order to keep attracting top level talent to the core dev space, we need to experiment with out-of-protocol ways of funding. Protocol Guild is a very exciting project in that regard and hopefully a first step towards a sustainable funding structure.”

Anton Nashatyrev (TXRX) - “I would really love to see Guild as an instrument for long term incentivisation of people who just want to develop Ethereum and don’t want to worry about buying food for themselves tomorrow ”

Carl Beekhuizen (EF Research) - “As researchers we spend a lot of time worrying about incentive compatibility. This guild nudges us towards a better incentive landscape for those working on the protocol.”

Core Contributor - “A huge ecosystem is building up upon the base Ethereum protocol. If we want this base layer to remain independent and maintained like a true public good, incentive alignment is a key factor. Let’s make the Protocol Guild an inspiring and successful experiment! ”

Core Contributor - “Decentralized Apps. Decentralized Ecosystem. Decentralized Funding.”

Core Contributor - “Decentralized eco-systems are hard to build, and client diversity is harder but super important for a robust social code consensus on a protocol. That requires on-par commitment, perseverance, continuous innovation, learning and contributions. And not to mention community support!”

Core Contributor - “Establishing financial incentives for core developers will be an important facet of retaining talent to produce high quality protocol-level work.”

Core Contributor - “Ethereum is public infrastructure for the world. Building infrastructure is hard, because everyone wants to enjoy it, but no one wants to be the chump left paying the bill, which often induces zero-sum thinking and protecting one’s own interests rather than contributing. Protocol Guild ensures stability for those who choose to contribute and creates an environment of positive-sum thinking, powered entirely by the Ethereum ecosystem and the value it brings to the world.”

Core Contributor - “I believe this experiment will result in a great precedent on how to keep the core values of the Ethereum protocol alive and relevant.”

Core Contributor - “I may be the type of contributor that PG was formed to support, as I’m switching from a funded single-client team to working on Eth as an individual for a while, in the finest open source tradition. I know innards of several clients, and have measured significant performance improvements in storage size, sync and execution using new algorithms that I’d like to complete, to improve Eth performance for everyone. I also do multi-client testing, running a fleet, and could contribute to multiple clients or the support infrastructure, depending how the landscape works out.

But time and funding are a real challenge. Realistically I will do this for a while, then reduce hours to accommodate a “day job”. I get many approaches about blockchain work, but it tends to be from entities not interested in Eth’s common core: defi companies, proprietary services, closed source traders etc. and of course non-blockchain work. So PG’s sections on incentive imbalance, contributor continuity, funding trade-offs and open source caught my eye and seem very relevant. If the amounts are enough it could make a practical difference to people like me being able to keep contributing and get better at it.”

Core Contributor - “I think the success of the Protocol Guild can be the precursor to how we can fund not just Ethereum but FOSS/public goods.”

Core Contributor - “Incentive alignment is one of the core issues that impact the long term health of a software/network. I think the Protocol Guild helps solve a part of the incentive alignment problem by allowing members to gain exposure to the network they are developing. I feel like it will go a long way in helping keep and onboard new core developers, as well as ensure everyone has skin in the game.”

Core Contributor - “It is important that we allow those that contribute to the core protocol the opportunity to be financially rewarded on a similar scale as those that choose to operate in the private sector. Without such a mechanism, the choice to work on the core protocol is also a choice to forfeit monetary rewards offered elsewhere, which in many cases, will lead to continual attrition of talent into the private sector.”

Core Contributor - “It seems like really great way to incentivise work on core ethereum protocols.”

Core Contributor - “It should help to bring and keep talents in the Ethereum core dev group.”

Core Contributor - “It’s great to see the incentive problem trying to be solved for existing and also new core contributors.”

Core Contributor - “It’s sad that those who develop open technologies have historically profited far less than those who build on top of open technologies. I think that the Protocol Guild is the start of something very important to Ethereum.”

Core Contributor - “Let’s make base layer r&d long term sexy!”

Core Contributor - “maybe the log4j exploit might not have happened with more funding, let’s try to make the same not happening on Ethereum.”

Core Contributor - “Motivating talent towards Ethereum development is critical to stay competitive in this dynamic industry.”

Core Contributor - “Protocol contributors enable the creation of value. Rewarding them proportionally to the value created can sustain their work and attract additional talent. Token contributions from successful projects is a great way to achieve that.”

Core Contributor - “Protocol Guild is a great way to reward Ethereum core developers for the infrastructure work that they are doing.”

Core Contributor - “Protocol Guild is a platform for the community to acknowledge and appreciate the talent and dedication that keeps Ethereum going.”

Core Contributor - “prysm implements the ethereum beacon chain proof of stake protocol. The beacon chain is important because eliminating proof of work is a moral imperative. Multiple implementations of the beacon chain do and should exist for the resilience of the network. prysm is written in go, which is a language designed to minimize the complexity of strongly typed, highly concurrent source code. This means that prysm can be performant, have good support for safety and correctness, while also being built from source code that is easier to read and audit than other system languages. More eyes on the implementation should lead to greater understanding of how the system works and more confidence in the network.”

Core Contributor - “The Ethereum ecosystem is capable of delivering enormous value. But a huge disparity has arisen between the rewards available to those who build the Ethereum protocol and those who build on the Ethereum protocol. The whole community should be concerned about this: unless the foundations are continually maintained and improved, the entire building is at risk. Almost uniquely, our own technology gives us the tools to align all our incentives. The Protocol Guild is a creative approach to recognising and rewarding the foundation-builders - essential if we want to continue to deliver on Ethereum’s promise long into the future.”

Core Contributor - “The Ethereum Foundation, however successful beyond what might have been reasonably expected of it, still comprises a single point of failure. The protocol guild can help ensure the values the foundation has helped shepherd can sustainably adapt in a decentralized fashion consistent with Ethereum’s core principles.”

Core Contributor - “The Guild will help retain existing and attract new talented contributors to the Ethereum revolution.”

Core Contributor - “The Protocol Guild will help ensure Ethereum provides the world with the decentralized future it needs.”

Core Contributor - “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. But without the parts there is no whole. This project addresses the parts without diminishing the whole.”

Danny Ryan (EF Protocol Support) - “Public goods are hard.”

Dmitry Khovratovich (EF Research) - “We work on a number of projects: VDFs, zero knowledge protocols, validator secure selection, – which all make Ethereum 2.0 faster, secure, and simple. We are taking the best from the most advanced cryptographic schemes today, and sometimes invent new ones.”

Fredrik Svantes (EF Security) - “Funding public goods/FOSS, especially on an individual level, is hard. Protocol Guild helps make this easier for individuals from across the world to partake in the future of Ethereum without also having to be part of a larger organization. By creating this sustainable effort, the Protocol Guild is helping to further provide long term health of the protocol layer, which is crucial for the applications running on top of it, by rewarding those who help build it.”

Gary Schulte (Hyperledger Besu) - “Narrowing the incentive gap between Ethereum core-protocol work and the more lucrative application space is an important effort worth putting time and resources into. ”

Jason Carver (EF Portal) - “We should explore many approaches for supporting collaboration. It’s a valuable and hard problem to generate and maintain public goods.”

Jiri Peinlich (Hyperledger Besu) - “We should be among the first who try new ways of organizing enabled by the decentralized paradigm. This example will hopefully inspire other groups to self organize and self govern. ”

Justin Florentine (Hyperledger Besu) - “Funding public goods is a hard problem, I look forward to making some mistakes along the way so others can learn from us. Someone’s gotta try!”

Kaan Uzdogan (Solidity) - “The misaligned incentives in FOSS are well known and already causing problems. Particularly in the Ethereum space, the financial incentives to move away from protocol building to a for-profit project are high and we can’t rely on core developers’ altruism forever. Protocol Guild is a valuable experiment both for the sustainability of Ethereum infrastructure, as well as the broader open source ecosystem. ”

Kamil Sliwak (Solidity) - “I appreciate the idea behind Protocol Guild not only because it attempts to incentivize the work on the core protocols (which is very much needed), but also because of how it does it. I think there’s a very real need on the side of potential funders to know that their donations are addressing a real need and are reaching the right people. The group of protocol developers is a constantly moving target so by curating membership, Protocol Guild will make it easy to contribute towards it as a whole. I think that for the donor it will be more fulfilling than having to hand-pick individual developers or projects. The space does not suffer from the lack of funds and what is needed is really just a sensible way of channeling the available resources to where they can do the most good.”

Mamy Ratsimbazafy (Status) - “So that the value created by Ethereum isn’t just captured by those who build on top but also benefits those that build the foundations. We don’t want a situation like https://xkcd.com/2347/.”

Mark Mackey (Lighthouse) - “Every core developer I’ve talked to is well aware that they can earn significantly more working in other fields or even just at the application layer. I personally couldn’t even afford to join this effort until I was able to subsidize myself. This is strange for an industry acutely aware of incentive structures. If we care about the long-term heath of the base layer, it is important we mitigate this so we can attract and retain talent.”

Michael Sproul (Lighthouse) - “I love that Protocol Guild centers individual contributors ahead of organisations, and in doing so grants autonomy to all of the people working on Ethereum’s base layer. We have an opportunity to prove the viability of an alternative funding model for public goods, which I hope will inspire many more experiments in radical economic coordination.”

Nishant Das (Prysmatic) - “The Protocol Guild helps keep core developers focused on protocol work rather than jumping to the application layer where the upside is significantly more. Having a sustainable source of funding for public goods such as protocol work is valuable. ”

Phil Ngo (Lodestar) - “Protocol developers and researchers create the base foundation for which Ethereum stands upon. The amount of responsibility bestowed upon them is not necessarily incentivized monetarily nor does value generated on Ethereum trickle down to the base layer for protocol development. The protocol guild is a valuable experiment to incentivize great minds to contribute to the long-term future of Ethereum while having their basic needs met.”

Pooja Ranjan (Ethereum Cat Herders) - “Incentivizing contributors is a great way to keep them motivated for ongoing work. Many of us started as volunteers and I am expecting more to join in the future. Protocol Guild is a well planned initiative to incentivize community contributors to the Ethereum protocol development work.”

potuz (Prysmatic) - “End user applications stand on the shoulders of core development. In a world with multiple competing personal and institutional interests, this project helps keeping those interests as far away from core Ethereum development as possible.”

Preston Van Loon (Prysmatic) - “Client software powers the Ethereum network! Crafting mechanisms to support the teams working on it long into the future is an important project.”

Proto (EF Research) - “Protocol development is critical to the security, usability and long-term viability of the ethereum network. The protocol is a public good with insufficient funding, something that can change if there is a good platform for application-layer projects to contribute to.”

Raul Jordan (Prysmatic) - “The Ethereum Foundation has a philosophy of subtraction. That is, it aims to be irrelevant over time as grassroots teams take over development, research, and community. We started working on a consensus client because of the immense potential we see in introducing new engineers to build public goods for Ethereum, just as we did. We believe being an independent team that has built a popular client helps inspire others to do the same and grow the ethos of Ethereum’s decentralized development. hopefully the Protocol Guild will also inspire more contributors to join us in maintaining the core protocol.”

Tim Beiko (EF Protocol Support) - “Aligning the incentives of the people supporting the Ethereum protocol with the success of the applications built on top of it allows these motivated contributors to keep doing what they do best, building Ethereum, while also being rewarded with some of the value they help create. ”

Tomasz Stanzeck (Nethermind) - “Protocol Guild is a well planned and honestly designed experiment for protocol development.”

Trenton Van Epps (EF Protocol Support) - “The Protocol Guild is Ethereum itself beginning to comprehend its agency - I’m happy to be part of such an important initiative. Long-term maintenance of foundational internet infrastructure should accrue material social, cultural and financial benefits to contributors.”

Zahary Karadzhov (Status) - “This project can empower many individual contributors to start working on Ethereum without the backing of a large corporate sponsor.”